TURKEY, EU, US MUST TAKE CLEAR STANCE TO AVOID REGRET, SAY OBSERVERS
Yonca Poyraz DoÄ~^An

Zaman
10.11.2007

Turkey is at a critical turning point domestically, a time when its
neighborhood is challenged and its best allies are at a crossroads
because the time has come to clearly define their stance — so agreed
a group of foreign policy observers, including academics, think tank
representatives, journalists and former government officials, at a
roundtable meeting held recently at Ä°stanbul Bilgi University.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with US President George
W. Bush on Monday in a meeting wherein Bush declared the PKK an enemy
of the US and promised to fight against it.

In the Nov. 8 meeting organized by the nongovernmental Arı Movement
to mark the release of its new Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ) issue on
"New Faultlines in Central Eurasia," participants stressed the lack
of EU and US leadership’s recognition of Turkey’s importance. One of
the speakers even suggested that if Turkey does not receive a clear
signal from the EU that it will become a full member of the 27-nation
bloc, the country will "go Islamic."

As an example of the blurred messages Turkey receives from Europe,
another participant said the European media should stop calling
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) operatives "fighters" or "rebels"
and clearly identify them as "PKK terrorists."

"If the PKK is identified and characterized by the EU and the US as
a terrorist organization — which it is — then the European [and]
especially the German media should stop calling them PKK fighters or
PKK rebels and call them what they are: PKK terrorists," said Jörg
Dehnert, the Turkey representative of the Germany-based Friedrich
Naumann Foundation.

He also said the PKK has no mandate for Turkish Kurds, as the July
22 elections showed clearly that the PKK has lost much of its support
among Kurds living in Turkey.

The success of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
in garnering more than half of the vote in Kurdish-majority provinces
has been seen as a significant result of this year’s parliamentary
elections.

"Turkey needs more understanding and support from its allies — not
as a favor, but as part of alliance solidarity. The transformation
we are undergoing will end when we get more support. It is difficult
and not trouble-free. Adversity on the part of allies will exacerbate
tensions and the result may end up being regrettable, for all parties
concerned," said Soli Ozel, a senior lecturer in international
relations and political science at Bilgi University.

Turkey at a turning point

One of the keynote speakers described the transformation Turkey has
been going through as the "post-Kemalist era," and said that some
see it as a moment of self-definition they call "Erdoganism."

"Unfortunately, Turkey’s membership aspirations caught up with the
European Union’s domestic insecurities," said Fred Kempe, president
and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Atlantic Council of the
United States.

Kempe said the EU has to decide what it wants to be in the future. He
also said the Turkish government has to make an argument indicating
why the membership is so important.

Arguments in the EU regarding whether it will be able to expand
farther, agree on a common foreign policy and reverse the public
opinion against enlargement continue.

Most experts expect the EU to go slow on enlargement because opposition
to the entire process is growing in some member states, especially
about expanding the EU to the East.

"Even the most pro-Western Turks want to learn what it is the West
wants from us. Almost everybody says Turkey is part of the West and
if it keeps to the course it will win; but we never get the reward,"
Ozel said.

Kempe indicated that not all of Europe is against Turkey and that
some countries and European political elements support Turkey more
than others, although Turks feel they are not wanted by the EU.

"It’s still you that will push the EU harder, with your European
friends — because if you don’t, they [the EU] won’t," he said.

Kemal Köprulu, a member of Bilgi University’s board, commented that
Turkey relies too much on its bilateral ties vis-a-vis Iran and Russia,
at the risk of losing institutional partners such as the EU and the US.

Turkey’s role revalidated

Former US Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris questioned whether Turkey
is still viewed as a strategic asset by the United States.

"The simple answer is yes," Parris said and asserted that intense
debate in Washington regarding the Armenian genocide resolution and
the fight with the PKK "revalidated" Turkey’s strategic importance.

Participants discussed the fact that although the Bush administration
was not as active in making Turkey a priority compared to the past,
a new opportunity to do this is presented by the fight against a
common enemy, the PKK.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with US President George
W. Bush on Monday in a meeting wherein Bush declared the PKK an enemy
of the US and promised to fight against it.

Still, most experts agreed that it is not enough to fully eradicate
the problems dragging relations between Turkey and the US into a
deadlock. The US wants the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq to
be permanent and for Turkey to both normalize relations and develop
economic cooperation with it.

One journalist commented that Iraq has changed and the real bargaining
is about the degree of federation in Iraq and plans for Kirkuk, rather
than the PKK. Whether or not Turkey can accommodate a greater degree
of federalism in Iraq is yet to be seen.

Moderated by TPQ Editor-in-Chief Nigar Göksel, former Foreign
Minister and NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan
Hikmet Cetin was among the keynote speakers at the meeting in which
Robert L. Hutchings, former chairman of the US Intelligence Council,
and Paul Herman, director of the long-range political program at the
US National Intelligence Council, also participated.

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